1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for manufacturing steel having an excellent fire resistance and a low yield ratio, which is used for various buildings in the fields of architecture, civil engineering, offshore structures and the like, and a building construction steel material composed of this steel.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known, a rolled steel for general structural use (JIS G-3101), a rolled steel for welded structure (JIS G-3106), a weather-resistant hot-rolled steel for welded structure (JIS G-3114), a highly weather-resistant rolled steel (JIS G-3125), a carbon steel pipe for general structure (JIS G-3444), and a rectangular steel pipe for ordinary construction (JIS G-3466) are widely used as construction materials for buildings in the fields of architecture, civil engineering, offshore structures and the like.
In general, these steels are produced by removing S and P from pig iron obtained in a blast furnace, carrying out refining in a converter, forming a slab, billet or bloom (hereinafter the description refers to a slab) by continuous casting or blooming, and subjecting the slab to a hot rolling processing to obtain a product having desired properties.
When a steel as mentioned above is used for buildings having a close relationship to everyday life, e.g., offices and houses, to maintain the fire safety thereof, it is legally stipulated that a fire-proof coating must be formed on the steel material, and according to the regulations concerning building, it is prescribed that the steel temperature must not exceed 350.degree. C. during a fire. Namely, the yield strength of a steel as mentioned above at a temperature of about 350.degree. C. is reduced to 60 to 70% of the yield strength at normal temperature, and thus there is a risk of a collapse of the building, and therefore, a loss of the load bearing capacity of the steel by thermal damage during a fire must be prevented. For example, in the case of a building comprising, as the column material, a section steel stipulated by JIS G-3101 (rolled steel for general structural used), a fire-proof coating must be carefully formed by spreading a spray material comprising slag wool, rock wool, glass wool or asbestos as the base or a felt material on the steel surface or covering the steel surface with fire-proofing mortar, or further protecting the formed heat-insulating layer with a metal thin sheet such as an aluminum or stainless steel thin sheet.
Accordingly, the cost of forming the fireproofing coating becomes high, compared with the cost of the steel, and thus a drastic increase of the construction costs cannot be avoided.
Therefore, a technique has been proposed of preventing an elevation of the temperature during a fire, without a reduction of the load bearing capacity, by adopting a structure in which cooling water is circulated through a round or square tube used as the construction material, and by using this technique, to reduce the construction costs of a building and expand the utilizable space. For example, Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication No. 52-16021 discloses a fire-proofing building which comprises a water tank installed in the upper portion of the building and columns composed of hollow steel tubes into which cooling water is supplied from the water tank.
Also, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.63-190117 discloses a process for producing a building construction material by a direct hardening process, but this process is not suitable because a normal temperature strength of a building material is too high.
A building material produced by a process disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-145717 can not obtain a high temperature strength for reason of a temperature to heat a slab is low, therefore a ratio of a normal temperature yield strength to a high temperature yield strength is low.
In a Cr-Mo steel disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 55-41960, the good characteristics of welding for a building material can not be maintained, because Cr is too high.
Where the conventional steel is utilized for the above-mentioned building, the cost of the steel is low, but because the high temperature strength is unsatisfactory, the steel cannot be utilized in the uncoated or lightly coated condition, and an expensive fire-resistant coating must be applied. Accordingly, the construction cost is increased and the utilizable space of the building reduced, and a problem of a reduction of the cost-performance arises. The method of supplying forced cooling by using hollow steel tubes is defective in that, since the structure is complicated, not only the equipment cost but also the maintenance and operating costs are increased.
Furthermore, since the known heat-resistant steel material represented by stainless steel is very expensive, although the high-temperature strength is excellent, from the viewpoint of the manufacturing technique and from the economical viewpoint, it is not practical to use the known heat-resistant steel as a construction material.
Recently, it has become possible to increase the number of stories in a building due to an increased reliability of design techniques, and therefore, the subject of fire-proof designs has been reconsidered. In 1987, a new law for a fire proof design for buildings was established, whereby it became permissible to determine the capacity of a fire resistance of a building material in accordance with a high-temperature strength and a load practically applied to a building, without the restriction of the above-mentioned temperature limitation of 350.degree. C. In some cases, it is possible to use a steel material in the uncoated condition.
Currently, however, a construction steel material having an excellent fire resistance and able to be marketed at a reasonable price is not known.